Watch: The ENO Flying Dutchman Trailer

Cast    Daland: Clive Bayley Senta : Orla Boylan Erik: Stuart Skelton Mary: Susanna Tudor-Thomas Der Steuermann: Robert Murray Der Holländer: James Creswell Conductor: Edward Gardner Director:  Jonathan Kent Set Designs: Paul...

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Olive Fremstad sings Isolde "Mild und leise wie er lächelt"

Alex Ross has just posted the following: "The 'Liebestod' as Fremstad sang it was a paean to annihilation," Samuel Chotzinoff said of her legendary Isolde under Mahler, at the Met in 1908. "By her rapturous otherworldly smile as she gazed at her...

7:44:00 pm | 0 comments | Read More

Listen to the VSO/Thielemann Ring Cycle, on-demand for 7 days

ORF is presently broadcasting the Thielemann lead Vienna State Opera production of the Ring Cycle from 2011. They began Friday with Rheingold, continued Saturday with Walkure These are now available at ORF on-demand for the next seven days. The cycle...

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Anna Picard talks to Stuart Skelton

A great, blond bear of an Australian, with a voice of unparalleled beauty and strength, Stuart Skelton has made his career playing the man who is loved too little, too late or not at all. Sailing to his death in Peter Grimes, stumbling into the arms...

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If you missed tonights MET Walkure you can catch it here on-demand

Should be available for the next 7 days or so. While there are always a number of options from various radio stations I find RTE Lyric in Ireland a good source. Clicking the link below will open RTE's online player. Give it 30 seconds or so for...

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Listen to: Jonathan Harvey's Wagner Dream. BBC Radio 3, 05/05/2012 & 7 days thereafter

UPDATE: NOW AVAILABLE ON DEMAND FOR 7 DAYS. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN The dying Wagner reflects on his unfinished Buddhist opera, and is reconciled with his wife. Martyn Brabbins conducts a superb British cast, BBC Symphony Orchestra ensemble and IRCAM...

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Tom Service in conversation with Kent & Gardner re ENO's new Dutchman

Tom Service: This, for both of you, is your first professional Wagner production. Is it a good place for Wagner-virgins in the audience to start? Jonathan Kent: On the simplest level, it's a fable – the story of the ghostly Dutchman and how Senta...

7:15:00 pm | 0 comments | Read More

Kaufmann ill, Frank van Aken stands in at METs Walkure

It never rains but it pours for the METs Ring Cycle, so much so, it is sometimes very difficult to keep up. But one could do worse than Van Aken Frank van Aken will make his Met debut as Siegmund in Die Walküre at todays matinee performance, replacing...

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Listen Live (28/04/12): Die Walkure (MET)

Available at an number of different online sources (see second link below for most options). Starts 3:00 PM GMT. I have linked straight to BBC Radio 3 below. This time with Fabio Luisi. conducting: Listen On BBC Radio 3 by clicking here To listen from...

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Updated Contact Address

I have updated the contact email address. Should you so wish, and don't be shy, contact us with news of: Wagner related events, books, performances, news, etc.. contact@the-wagnerian.com ...

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Toby Spence: recovering from thyroid cancer

While the ROH's recent revival of Graham Vick’s Meistersinger was not an unanimous success among critics, there was certainly one thing that they were all in agreement about: the outstanding performance of Toby Spence's David (See the Wagnerians ROH...

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Will Fitzgibbon in discussion with Stuart Skelton about appearing in The Dutchman and Walküre in the same month

It is hard to imagine that this sort of thing was far more common for Wagner performers. WHEN the scheduled tenor for the English National Opera’s upcoming production of Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, Australian Julian Gavin, fell sick, the...

11:19:00 pm | 0 comments | Read More

Watch: The Barenboim/Kupfer Parsifal Trailer

Been meaning to get around to this for some time. Sorry about the delay. Following EuroArts description below are three reviews from: Superconductor (especially useful to new comers to Parsifal and this production), Mostly Opera and Classical CD Reviews...

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Watch: Deutsche Oper Berlin, Lohengrin - the trailer

Edit: Oops! Forgetting to include the video is a little embarrassing. Now back where it belongs And lest you missed the details: 15, 19, 22, 25, 28 April, 1 May 2012 ...

7:58:00 pm | 0 comments | Read More

Free Ebooks: Letters of Franz Liszt Vol 1 & 2

"My daughter, Frau von Bulow, writes to me that Wagner's new work "Die Meistersinger" is a marvel, and amongst other things she says:— "These 'Meistersinger' are, to Wagner's other conceptions, much the same as the 'Winter's Tale' is to Shakespeare's...

5:33:00 pm | 0 comments | Read More

New Issue Of Wagner Journal Now Available. Includes: Wagner’s English lover Jessie Laussot

The March 2012 issue (vol.6, no.1), now available, contains the following feature articles: • in ‘Jews, Music and Wagner’, David Conway, author of the recently published book Jewry in Music, describes the entry of Jews into 19th-century European music...

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ENO announce 2013 season, but Wagner's bicentenary will not be noted

ENO have announced their 2013 season but surprisingly,  while marking Britten's centenary and Verdi's bicentenary, they may be one of the only major opera houses not staging Wagner. Why? Says artistic director John Berry: "The problem [with Wagner]...

12:41:00 am | 0 comments | Read More

The Wagnerian: New look, new address and "fighting the man - man"

As regular readers may be aware, I have recently changed the design of the site. Very observant readers may note - once this 301 starts working correctly anyway - that the web address has changed: from http://thewagnerian.blogspot.com to www.the-wagnerian.com...

10:18:00 pm | 0 comments | Read More

Missed the MET's broadcast of Siegfried on Saturday? Listen to it here - on-demand

Sorry, I have been so busy that I forgot to post this earlier. If you missed Saturday's (21/04/12)  broadcast of Siegfried from the MET then you can still catch it at a number of sources. Might I recommend, if you have been unable to track it...

8:00:00 pm | 0 comments | Read More

Lepage discusses making changes to the METs Ring Cycle - it makes less noise now.

“But when you see them as a package, it’s like connecting Christmas tree lights.  "Mr. Lepage finished the sentence with a lemon-sucking face. “These people — go see a concert version of the ‘Ring." “I said: ‘That’s all your...

6:28:00 pm | 0 comments | Read More

Horowitz plays Wagner-Liszt Isolde's Liebestod

It took the legendary pianist three separate days to record this piece to his satisfaction, and he died a mere four days after its completion on November 5, 1989. Horowitz did not record the other Liszt transcriptions of Wagner such as the Tanhauser...

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Wagner Society Of New York Launches New YouTube Channel

  I have already posted some videos from the NYWS but it had recently occurred to me that I had not mentioned the YouYube channel itself, and the ever growing amount of interesting videos they are making available. From interviews with the MET...

12:34:00 am | 0 comments | Read More

J. S. MARCUS reviews: Deutsche Oper's Lohengrin

BERLIN—On any given night during the Cold War, West Berlin's Deutsche Oper could lay claim to being Germany's best opera company. It still boasts Berlin's largest opera house—a mammoth functionalist wonder, opened within weeks of the building of the...

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The Wagnerian gets a makeover

After a, very brief, beta test, I have updated the site. The main reasons are: 1 To speed up load times - especially on slower connections. It tends to get a little "media heavy" around here and hopefully the new layout will help to counter this. 2...

11:07:00 pm | 0 comments | Read More

Help needed!

I am presently "beta testing" a new look for the blog, in an attempt to make it more user friendly, to allow things to be found with greater ease and speed up load times (I know its far to "media heavy at the moment"). With this in mind I was hoping...

3:35:00 am | 0 comments | Read More

New Book: The History of Singing - John Potter and Neil Sorrell

Highly interesting, although I am "saddened" at a Kindle price of £44 at the moment. But I suppose that is an entirely different subject. Publishers description below, followed by the first part of a Guardian review - follow the link to read in its entirety. Why...

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“The Unknown Wagner-Humperdinck Collaboration: Lecture at Boston Wagner Society - April 22 2012

I came across this over at the Boston Wagner Society and thought that if you were in the area you might be interested.  A little background on this is available over at the excellent Monsalvat in an article named How Humperdinck Saved the Day. I...

4:25:00 am | 0 comments | Read More

La Scala announce Wagner/Verdi dominated 2012-13 Season. Opening with new Lohengrin: Kaufmann, Pape, Harteros & Barenboim

La Scala has just announced its 2012-2013  season. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this will be dominated by both Wagner and Verdi. With Wagner in mind we get the Ring (with three different Wotans: Volle, Pape and Uusitalo) the Dutchman (with Terfel once...

10:53:00 pm | 0 comments | Read More

While Wotan goes wrestling Jonas Kaufmann goes Boxing

 I have already reported below, on Performance Lab 115's adaption of the Ring as a WWF wrestling event (which is at least  intelligent, satirical and somewhat amusing) but in a more bizarre turn of events the ROH have just released a promo...

4:49:00 pm | 0 comments | Read More

Der Ring des Nibelungen: The Wrestling Match (Includes "Wotan goes to the MET")

In my ongoing mission to bring the Wagner news no one else in their right minds would, I present this introduction from Artinfo's Benjamin Sutton, on Performance Lab 115's adoption of the Ring Cycle - The Ring Cycle pts 1 to 4. Links to reviews can...

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